A recent Forrester research yet again confirms how people demand a lot more from brands than just their products or services; they demand a corporate consciousness. Not only that, individuals today have the means to express their voices openly, freely and virtually with anyone around the globe – a shift in power distribution encouraged by the rise of social media. This, in turn, has severely complicated the job of communicators and marketers to successfully win the hearts and minds of today’s consumers.

According to the research, it is trust, not buzz that builds brand resonance. This means that if organisations want to build a strong and sustainable brand, it is critical for them to first earn the trust of their customers by meeting their growing expectations . But, as we’ve seen in the 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer and 2013 Ketchum Leadership Communication Monitor, trust in companies and their leaders is not really on the rise, but quite the opposite...

So then, what does the brand of the future is supposed to look like?

The Forrester research has developed a sort of a formula (Forrester calls it a compass) that describes the successful brand of the 21^st century: TRUE or trusted, remarkable, unmistakable and essential. These attributes directly impact brand preference, referral and premium pricing and ultimately build brand resonance.

The TRUE framework offers brands a guideline how to steer the brand journey and decision-making process and ultimately build relationships with customers by striking the balance between the four dimensions. This is how each of them works:

• Trusted: Earn trust by guiding the brand to be more transparent and accountable.
• Remarkable: Disrupt the market in a way that inspires people to talk about the brand.
• Unmistakable: Become known as the one and only at what you do.
• Essential: Become more irreplaceable in the lives of your customers.

Of the four factors, trust is the most powerful one. The study highlights that even if a brand has high scores on the other three assets, but ranks low on trust, then the overall brand resonance will nevertheless be lower. This means that trust is the paramount value on which consumers base their buying decisions and conversely brand loyalty.

Brands today have an amazing opportunity to earn that trust if they make an effort to really listen to what their customers are saying, where they are saying it, when they are saying it and how they are saying it. Social media works both ways – consumers can talk, but brands can and should listen, learn, incorporate feedback and respond with accordingly improved products and services that would then better satisfy customer needs. When was that ever possible before to such a great extent?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net